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The optimism of the young …

When you are just starting your working career – or perhaps you are still studying for your career – it can be hard to think of anything more exciting and fun than working at a job that you love.

So, when I talk about retirement – as I do from time to time – I can imagine that a large chunk of my audience is looking for the ‘close window’ button?

Well, don’t!

[AJC: Also, keep reading this particular post even if you AREN’T young … I have included a lot of back-links, because I want you to review some of the ground that we have covered so far, with this blog .. the idea of Future Vision is THAT important to your financial success!]

Now, this seems counter-intuitive, therefore some of the comments were interesting … the one that I felt expressed the counterpoint the best was from Alex, who said:

I don’t plan on quitting working anytime soon. My “retirement” is to retire from working 9-5 and work for myself. I wouldn’t call that work since I know I will enjoy it, if not, I can always pick a new thing to work on. Life is simple and fun if you have more choices right?

I responded:

It’s my thesis that one day working will no longer be fun, for any of us … if you agree that it’s possible that you will one day feel the same way, then it’s your job NOW to decide WHEN that will be, WHAT you’ll be doing instead of working, and HOW MUCH it will cost to do it – and, if you’re no longer earning money, WHERE will it come from?

The younger that you are when you get this, the more chance that you have of either:

1. Achieving a larger goal, given enough time, than your friends and peers, or

2. Achieving a more modest goal, but much earlier than your friends or peers.

But, if you aspire to an unconventionally wealthy and rewarding lifestyle, where you have replaced work with even more rewarding activities, while you are still young enough to enjoy them (e.g. 29, 39, or – hope YOU don’t need to wait THIS long – 49 years old!) then you will need to sit down and dream your large dreams NOW …

… then wake up, splash some cold water on your face and get straight to work applying my Making Money 201 principles!

If you do, you will soon be keeping your very large nest-egg safe with my Making Money 301 principles – and, at a much earlier age than me or most others.

I’m 49 y.o. – officially retired – and I think that’s WAY TOO OLD!

So will you, if you just sit back and wait because you are still young, and still excited about your work or your business or your whatever … if you follow my advice, these will still be your fun and exciting means to a much more valuable end, so …

… start now!

AJC.

PS If you are a ‘young adult’, Ryan at Bounteo has a great series specifically focussed on investing for young adults … why don’t you check it out, and let me know what you think?

@ Andrew – I hope that everybody sees your comment because it is such an important point … the targets that people are aiming at are TOO LOW when inflation is (as it MUST be) taken into account. Well said!

BTW: I haven’t looked at all of Ryan’s posts, but the ones that I did read seemed to reinforce the “start young” message that I like to see … perhaps after reading this he’ll add some “aim high” messages as well 🙂